Testing, Testing

National Jelly Roll Sew Day is coming! 

Pretty colors in oh so not straight rows

A couple of pals and I are going to celebrate by using a jelly roll (a group of 42 2.5” wide by 43” long fabric strips) from our stash and whatever pattern catches our fancy to each make a quilt. Anybody want to join us?

The actual “holiday” is September 21, but since that’s my wedding anniversary (and hubby might not see the humor in my sewing all day…and night…) we’ve decided to spread the jelly roll party from Friday through Sunday. 

Picture from Pinterest

I wanted to make Tangled (above) but don’t think I have the time or brain power to do it justice (we’re leaving on an 11 day cruise the following week… and guess who hasn’t started packing yet…), so I’m doing my version of a ‘brick’ quilt based on a photo from Pinterest (no pattern listed.)

To be sure this will work (and that I did the math right), I sorted the strips by value and sewed a couple of test blocks. 

Looks good! 

Flag Quilt

The second flag quilt top is done. It got finished first since I want to take it to donate on Thursday. 

The original pattern didn’t have any outer borders but I think it looks more finished this way. And I really love gold framing on anything red, white and blue. 

Next step is someone in the guild with a long arm will quilt it, then another volunteer will attach the binding and label.   

 49 x 63”

Community Projects said recently that they are low on patriotic quilts, so hopefully this and Mighty Stars will both get new homes quickly. 

Done-ish

One done(ish).

I’m planning to add a thin stripe of gold as the inner border, then a 3”-ish, probably blue, outer border. 

Turns out I did not have enough squares cut for the second quilt (counting, not my strongest skill apparently…)

so I didn’t get as far on it as I’d hoped. 

Plus my shoulder is getting (really, really) annoyed again, so after these are done looks like I’ll be taking a quilty break. Color me as annoyed as my shoulder. 😒

Truly Scrappy

It took me most of today to organize, iron, cut and lay out my red scraps, but it was so worth it. 

I’d planned to use a red, white and blue 32 piece fat quarter bundle I inherited from a friend, but I’ve only had to use 2 or 3 pieces of it so far. I was actually surprised at how many red scrap fabrics I had. 

The columns for the bottom section of quilt #1 are sewn. The remaining top third won’t take long to put together (did I just jinx myself??). And the second quilt should be a breeze since all the pieces are already cut and ready to go. Whoo! So, what should I use that bundle for?

I’m thinking this ⬆️ might be fun… or this ⬇️ ? 

I ❤️❤️❤️ the mouse so much. 

On Schedule

Despite having to rip and fix* one of the center stars (good grief…)

I finished the blue sections tonight, roughly a quarter of each quilt. 

The color is way off on these pix

Planning to cut a million or so red and white squares** tomorrow and start working on the stripes. It’s too hot to go outside, so I might as well sew… like I wasn’t planning to sew anyway. 😂 (it was 103° today and may be hotter tomorrow. Yuck!)

23 x23” blocks

*This is why I take pictures of each section before I move on. I didn’t notice the goof until I looked at the photo - then it was super obvious. Wonder why that is… just my brain or does it happen to everyone?

** note to self: 45 red, 38 white for each quilt. 90/76 total.

Next Up

I’m making this for a friend’s 94 year old WWII veteran dad. 

I also want to make one to donate, soooo… since I’m going to be cutting lots and lots of fabric to get a scrappy look, why not make 2 quilts at once?

Still need to cut the small squares for the star corners

I want it a bit bigger, so I get to redo the math too. It’s not a big deal, except for that pretty star that’s full of half-square triangles. I think I got the sizes right… but if not, it’s scrappy and I can fudge it until it fits, right???  (Why do I do this to myself??) Hoping that once the stars are done this will be a fast sew. A quilter can dream. 

My sister sent me a photo I’d never seen before, passed on from a cousin in Tennessee. That’s me, Teena and infant Donna, with our parents, at Easter 1957. Donna was born April 7, so I’m guessing this is late April. So cool. We were stylin’ in those hats and dressy coats. 

Done!

With only 5 rows left to go, this didn’t take long to finish, even after I had to pause to cut more background fabric for the last row. 

Really pleased with how it turned out. I love that sewing a bunch of squares together gave me a circle of stars. 

Note to self: pinning is worth the time!

And, thanks to my ‘pinning protocol’ - put a pin in the first of each pair of squares so they don’t get flipped while sewing - I only had to rip and resew one block out of the 100 in the project. It’s a miracle. 😂😂

Two Franken-pieced blocks in a row

Hoping to take this and Wheels of Fortune to my longarmer pal before we leave on vacation later this month. And maybe one more that I started cutting fabric for tonight… 

2 seams to go…